Someone call Guinness! No, not the beer company, the record book, because Lenovo says its now holds the title for lightest laptop with a 13.3-inch screen.
The new LaVie Z HZ550 weighs in at just 1.72 lbs. with the SSD empty. Fill that SSD up and it’ll get heavier though. (Kidding, kidding.)
To get to that weight, Lenovo used a Magnesium-Lithium alloy case. While others already use Mg-Li, Lenovo says the chassis is made using an exclusive forging process. Mg-Li is supposed to be about half the weight of aluminum yet as strong as more pedestrian magnesium alloy.
The LaVie Z HZ550’s specs include a 5th-gen Intel part that we might as well start calling Broadwell instead of pretending Intel hasn’t launched it’s next CPU yet. The screen sports a 2560×1440 resolution, and the laptop packs in a 128GB SSD and 802.11ac Wi-Fi along with a miserly 4GB of DDR3L. The notebook also features two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out, an SD card reader and analog headphone jack.
Despite the LaVie being being the lightest 13.3-inch laptop around, it’s not the thinnest. Lenovo actually claims its cousin, the Yoga 3 Pro is the thinnest out there at 0.50 inches (or about 12.7mm). Though light, the LaVie Z HZ550 still shops at Lane Bryant and comes in at 16.9mm thick. The unit will cost about $1,300 when it starts shipping in May.
Living the LaVie Loca
Lenovo also introduced a second LaVie that also claims the world record for being the lightest convertible with a 13.3-inch screen. You may question that record, but well, there are actually Guinness records for male pogo stick jumping in a marathon and the most people performing synchronized backflips on a pogo stick, so who can complain?
The LaVie Z H750 convertible weighs about 2.04 lbs. and also uses a Mg-Li forged case. It’s a Yoga-style folder rather than one that lets you remove detach the screen from the keyboard. It’s also a Broadwell-based unit with similar internals and resolution as the non-convertible LaVie Z HZ550, but will cost $1,500. It also won’t be avilable until May.
Just so you know, both products are the result of a partnership Lenovo has had with Japanese PC vendor NEC whose star has long faded in the US PC market. In Japan however, NEC is the No. 1 PC maker.